When Spring Comes Again
by Rhianwen
Summary: It's seven o' clock on a mild spring morning, and they're one hour from I do. ZackLillia fluff.
1. Chapter 1

When Spring Comes Again

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Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, they don't like me.

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Summary: It's seven o' clock on a mild spring morning, and they're one hour from "I do". Zack/Lillia fluff.

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It's seven o' clock on a mild spring morning, and he's one hour from I do.

Zack reaches up to give his bowtie and absent tweak, and Kai, who has just finished tying Rick's hair into a decorous braid, gives a groan of annoyances and hurries over to readjust.

One of these days, he'll have to get around to explaining to Kai that fussing over his a group of grown men's looks isn't exactly the best way to convince Karen not to constantly call him "Mineral Town's very own metrosexual".

But for now, he's too busy trying to clear his head of the dizzy, nervous expectation of his dearest dream of years coming true in less than an hour now.

Maybe not the way he's always dreamed; long before the wedding, shortly after he proposed and she accepted as graciously and sweetly as she does everything, she explained to him very seriously that her heart would never be entirely his, because part of it would remain forever with her first husband.

Which would be fine, if she knew the whole truth.

Resolutely shoving that thought out of his head, he ponders instead exactly what his bride-to-be is doing right now, and grins at the idea of Lillia smiling sweetly and serenely in her bedroom at the Poultry Farm, with a bevy of giggling little bridesmaids and bridesmatrons fussing over her dress and hair and make-up.

It's just a good thing that the younger generation eagerly volunteered when Anna, Sasha, and Manna bowed out of the honour with indulgent smiles. Although, he suspects that the idea of four more bridesmaids and groomsmen to supplement Popuri and Rick was more the aforementioned young lady's idea than Lillia's.

But, as Lillia said with a merry, sparkling laugh as Popuri ordered Karen, Ann, Mary, and Elli over for a special meeting to flip through some pattern books for good bridesmaid dresses, at least they're having fun.

Cliff, Rick, and Gray seem about as comfortable with all this tuxedo and bowtie business as he is, if their fidgeting and grimacing is any indication, and Zack wonders briefly just how much pleading it took Ann and Mary to get their respective boyfriends involved.

"Alright, Kai, I think he needs some room to breathe," Dr. Cuthbert finally announces firmly, steering the swarthy young man away from the industriously hyperventilating groom, and pointing him instead at Cliff and Gray, who promptly backed towards the door.

"Hey, wait a second!" Kai protests, bolting out the door after them. "Cliff, I still need to braid you!"

The doctor heaves a long-suffering sigh, rubbing his forehead and trying to hide a smile.

"Uh, why don't we meet you two at the church?"

"Thank God," Rick mutters as the door clicks shut. "I just hope he manages to get there instead of stopping by the farm to swoon over Elli in a low-cut dress, under the pretence of checking on Mom."

"No kidding," Zack agrees with a grin, absently de-adjusting his bowtie once again. Then, as a needling sensation of guilt resumes its steady schedule of poking him repeatedly in the brain, he sobers. "Look, Rick, I need to talk to you about something."

Rick's expression goes from fidgety and annoyed to bewildered.

"Uh, okay…"

"I wanted to run this by you first before I made a decision, and I'm taking a bit of a risk, because you might hate me for this, and—"

"Zack, just spit it out," Rick orders laughingly. "You're getting married in an hour."

"That's why I have to do this now," he sighs. "Look, there's something I haven't been totally honest with you three about." Rick watches, mystified, as Zack hurries to the little, low chest of drawers and pulls out a creased and crumpled little slip of paper. "I got this about two years ago."

As Zack hands him the paper, Rick stares, going swiftly pale.

"Dad?" he chokes.

Zack nods grimly.

"When—when did he write this?"

"About two years and a month ago," the older man sighed.

"But that was after we got word that he was lost in the storm!" Rick protested, and Zack can't tell if he desperately wants to believe what he's hearing, or desperately doesn't.

"Yeah, about a year after; turns out, someone screwed up big time in sending that notice to your mother." By now, Rick is shaking noticeably, and Zack leads him firmly to a chair before continuing. "Now you see the problem. Do I tell your mother, or don't I?"

The sandy-haired young man, siting with his face buried in his hands, looks up in disbelief.

"Why didn't you tell us right away?"

"Read it," Zack orders, snatching the letter back, unfolding it, and shoving it back at Rick.

Shooting the older man one more disbelieving look, Rick looks down and quickly scans the hastily scrawled lines.

Dear Zack,

It's been a while, hasn't it, kid? I guess you're probably surprised to get this, if you just got used to the idea that I got bumped off by a windstorm, but suffice it to say, reports of my death were a little premature. I'm just fine, and I should have written ages ago. I'm not going to use the hectic nature of travel to excuse putting it off so long, because if a man wants to write a letter, he can damn well make time, and I haven't. But I'm not asking for forgiveness, because there's a hell of a lot more to forgive than a misunderstanding and a long time between letters.

I feel like I'm in a dream. I'm no damn lovesick kid, and I can't blame this on the full moon, or too much wine, because it's been almost a year, and it hasn't gone away. I don't know where to start. There are no words to describe Ophelia. I got a lead on the flower about a year ago, from a botanist in South America, and Ophelia was his lab assistant.

Was, because I kind of snagged her and took her with me, seeing as how everything I know about plants could fit on the back of a postage stamp. Never would have got off that island, if she hadn't been with me. Long story short, I won't put her in that kind of danger again, and I can't live without her. If we get any further leads on the location or nature of the flower, we'll follow up on them, but Christ, it's been ten years, Zack. I'm starting to think that flower was just a fairy story.

For as long as I've known you, even back when you were an angry kid with a grudge at the world, you've been a better friend than any man deserves, and a better man than I'll ever be. I don't know if you 'll still think of me as a friend, at least, if you've been reading carefully, but there's one more thing I'm going to need to ask you to do.

Lillia deservs better than to get this news from a letter, and I don't think I can face her. Please tell Lilli I'm alive and well, and thinking of her everyday. She'll always be like a dear little sister to me, but sometimes things happen that we can't control. Tell Poppi that I got her photos and she's grown up as beautiful as her mother, and tell Rick that I've seen the annual reports and he's running that farm a hell of a lot better than I ever could, and tell them that I'm proud of them, whether or not they can still be proud of me.

I don't count on seeing anyone in town again, and I wish I could leave you with a better memory than this, but I guess that's life.

Take care, Zack.

Rod.

It seems to take Rick a long time to put the letter back down on the table and look up.

"There was another woman? That's why he never came back?"

"Yeah," Zack replies grimly. "That's also why I didn't give this to your mother."

"And he sent you to tell Mom because didn't even have the balls to come back here and tell her himself?" Rick is still trembling, but Zack suspects that it's the same kind of tremble that made him overturn tables and throw breakables the night he got that letter.

"I wanted to give it to her right away," Zack admits, voice cracking slightly as he drops to the chair next to Rick. "I thought there was no point in her wasting her tears on a man who could treat her that way, and if I'm totally honest, I thought I'd have a better chance if she didn't think of Rod and remember the hero that lost his life trying to cure her."

"But you didn't tell her," Rick says flatly. "Why?"

Zack rubs his eyes, then looks up with a sad smile.

"I—I didn't want to hurt her even worse, just when she was starting to heal."

"Damn it," Rick mutters thickly around a sniffle, both for the memory of his mother's anguish and for the pain of the man next to him. He pulls off his glasses and wipes his eyes. "I don't know what to say. Maybe you were a bit hasty back then, but hell, three years later? What's it going to help now? It's just going to take away the chance to get on with her life."

"You think I shouldn't tell her, then."

Rick sighs.

"I think it's your call, Zack. I know you'd never do anything to hurt Mom, and whatever you decide is alright with me."

"How do you think Popuri would take it?"

Rick frowns thoughtfully.

"It's hard to say. She might just be glad he's alive, even if he never plans on seeing any of us again. But she's kind of enamoured with the idea that Dad died a hero, trying to save Mom. If she finds out he had a near miss and stopped trying, it might upset her even more. But when you get right down to it, this is about you, Mom, and Dad, not about Poppi and me." A long, heavy silence, and Rick squeezes Zack's shoulder. "I'm gonna go see if the doctor needs any help rounding up the troops. See you in a bit."

The door clicks shut behind him, and Zack sits for a long time, staring at the letter crumpled on the tabletop.

He could easily drive away the memory of her fallen hero, and have her totally to himself. She would be horrified and embarrassed at her own gullibility, and then bitterly angry over Rod's desertion. He's almost certain that she could never hold onto her quiet, patient devotion to a man like that.

If only he could decide whether or not it's worth risking that part of her, just so he doesn't have to share her with a man who never really existed.

Five minutes later, decision made, he stands resolutely and starts toward the door, tossing the shreds of Rod's last letter into the trash bin as he leaves the little shack to meet his bride.

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	2. Chapter 2

Part 2: The Wrath of the Unplanned Sequel

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All things considered, the ceremony was really nice.

Even if Rick spent it absently mussing up his tidy ponytail and Kai almost had a meltdown to see his hard work ruthlessly destroyed.

Even if little Stu Greene put a bug on his little pal May right in the middle, reducing her to a bundle of squirms and shrieks, until the doctor took pity on his humiliated, teary-eyed little wife and hurriedly scooped up and removed both children because she was too afraid of the bug to go near May.

Even if Cliff started shedding clothes the minute he was finished escorting Ann to the front of the church, and didn't stop until his shirt was half unbuttoned, his tie gone, and his tux jacket a rumpled pile on the floor.

Even if Ann started doing much the same thing as soon as she was safely ensconced in the row of bridesmaids.

Even if he himself spent the hour having serious thoughts about doing the same thing for his bride, because it was too damn hot for all these layers, and he didn't quite like the little wobble she was doing, or the way her arm was tightening in his every few seconds as though hanging on for dear life.

But now they're out of that crowded, baking hot church, and blessedly alone in a prettily decorated room in a little bed-and-breakfast just outside of Rose Shore, so he's free to peel awat a few layers of heavy lace and tulle until that feverish flush goes away and her breathing regulates a little.

Although, undressing his wife isn't supposed to make her cool down and go to sleep, if a guy's doing it the right way. Just the thought is making beads of sweat form anew on his forehead.

Damn it.

A temporary retreat is in order.

"Lilli?"

She turns from the little dressing table, where she's busily tugging away a dizzying profusion of hairpins and brushing out a shining mass of rosepink hair from its elaborate updo, and gives him a sweet, contented little smile that puts his pulse rate – and other things – immediately on the rise.

"Hmm?"

"I'm going to get us something cool to drink. Iced tea, right?"

"Right, but Zack, wait—"

The door clicks quickly shut behind him, and Lillia indulges in a brief pout.

I might have to pry him out of that tuxedo with a crow bar.

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It's only about ten minutes, and a little more than a quarter of the buttons along the back of her dress, before the door swings open again.

At the sound of footsteps and the jangle of keys, Lillia hurriedly pulls her hair over one shoulder, gathers up her voluminous skirts, and leaps from the chair before the vanity with more exuberance than either of her children, or her concerned friends, or the aloof-but-kind Dr. Emily and his cuddly little nurse would believe.

Carefully hiding her impish smile behind wide, pleading eyes, she fixes her gaze on the door and waits for her new husband.

"Zack," she calls sweetly as soon as his broad-shouldered frame appears in the doorway, "can you come help me out of my dress? I can't reach all the buttons."

He stares for a long moment, strongly resembling a small woodland creature quite happily facing down a nuclear meltdown, at the line of her creamy white neck and shoulders, arms covered but just barely in something filmy and trailing and almost see-through for the sleeves.

Finally, he manages to nod mutely, and moves around behind her, his spirits steadily rising the closer he gets to the scent of her sweetly floral perfume.

"Man, this thing's like a cage," he observes, shaking his head as he works at the first button on the stiffly structured corset with shaking fingers. "It doesn't look too easy to move in. Which one of your fluff-brained little bridesmaids came up with that?"

She raises one hand to hide her grin.

"Actually, it was my idea. I've always loved how corsets look, and it's not something I'd ordinarily wear, but for just this once, I really wanted to look nice for you, sweetie."

"Ah, you looked fantastic!" he assures her hurriedly, and she laughs. "But can you really breathe in that thing?"

"Wedding gowns aren't supposed to be comfortable," she giggles, and casts a teasing look over her shoulder. "Neither is what you're wearing, if the way you've been fidgeting all day is any indication."

"Nah, it's not that bad, without the jacket and the tie," he shrugs, starting on another tiny shimmering pearl button.

She makes a happy little noise as his fingers brush against her back, and he jumps.

"Sorry," he mutters, face bright red, working carefully at the buttons.

"Zack, did your father forget to tell you what happens on a honeymoon?" she asks teasingly, peeking over her shoulder at him. "Chances are, you'll have to touch me at some point before the night is through."

He gives a loud, nervous laugh, and she jumps like a skittish little kitten at the sudden sound.

"Of course not! Uh, I mean, yeah. I just meant, I didn't know if you'd be up to it. It's been a long day, with the wedding and the trip here. I thought you might just want to have a drink and go to sleep."

As soon as he pushes the last button free, she turns to face him, letting her wedding gown slide to the floor, a frothy pool of rustling silk and lace.

"I'm not ready to sleep yet," she murmurs, reaching for him.

Somewhere between stooping to kiss her and her hands sliding up inside his jacket to unbutton his shirt, his mind shuts off – almost – completely.

But it's the little bit left over when subtracting almost from completely that makes him still able to stop himself from tumbling with her back onto the bed.

"What?" she asks breathlessly, staring up at him as he pulls back.

"I don't want to crush you." He shoots her a weak grin. "I'm a heavy guy, you know?"

What a problem solver his sweet Lilli is! Within seconds, the issue has been resolved, and he's flat on his back, groaning with want of more as she crawls topless up over him, brushing kisses over his chest where his shirt hangs open, the texture of gossamer-fine silk stockings smooth in his hand when he grips the backs of her thighs to pull her up closer and nibble gently at the soft skin of her throat.

She's gasping for breath, deeply flushed, chest heaving rapidly where it's pressed to him, lost in the sensations of his hands and mouth on her, the breaking of a seven-year spell. His teeth nip sharply, and she's hardly had time to realize that it's her that cry came from before he's bolting up and pulling her close into a gentle hug.

"Sorry," he murmurs, face buried in her hair.

She pulls away to look at him incredulously.

"For what?"

"I don't want to hurt you."

With a long sigh, she snuggles close against him.

"Zack, we're supposed to look after each other now. You can't do it all yourself, so you're going to have to trust me to know my own limits." She peeks up at him with a beaming smile. "I've been this way all my life, and judging by the existence of all the bickering going on in my house when Popuri and Kai are in town, I am fully capable of doing what leads to children."

He gives a weak chuckle.

"Yeah, I know, but—"

"Sweetie, I love that you want to protect me. But you don't need to protect me from you. I promise, if something is wrong, I'll tell you."

His arms tighten around her.

"I'm sorry, Lilli. I don't mean to worry like an idiot, but I'm so afraid of losing you."

She pushes him back to the pretty patchwork quilts, and stretches out next to him on her side, giving him a stern look.

"Is that why you didn't tell me when you got that letter from Rod?"

He chokes, halting abruptly in the act of running one hand over the curve of her hip.

"Uh—what?"

"I found out from Won. Popuri mentioned that she had noticed a letter from her father's traveling party, and I knew that if you hadn't told us about it right away, there must be a reason. I wanted to find out for myself, so I went while you were doing your rounds, and asked Won to let me sort through the week's return mail." She frowns at him, playfully stern. "Zack, when you're trying to keep secrets from people, you should lock up incriminating evidence, and swear your housemates to secrecy."

"I thought Won would be less likely to tell you if he didn't know there was anything to tell," he admits, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Lilli, why didn't you just tell me that you knew?"

Her smile borders on a grin.

"Because I thought you would postpone the wedding for another year, for my own good, and I was already starting to worry that I might have to drag you to the altar in chains."

He gives a loud, startled hoot of laughter, joined by her beautiful, silvery laugh. Turning over on his front and propping himself up on one elbow, he runs one hand reverently over the curve of her cheek and pushes her hair back from her eyes.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't want to see you get hurt again."

She brushes a light kiss against his palm.

"I know. And it did hurt, at first. But once I'd had a little bit of think about it…to be honest, I wasn't upset so much as angry, and mostly for Rick and Popuri's sake. Popuri still thinks that her daddy is a hero, and Rick might try to put up a jaded, hard-boiled front, but I think that he would be disappointed."

"Yeah, he was," Zack says with a grim little smile, and she stares. "I had to ask him if he thought I was doing the right thing."

"He hasn't said a word," she marvels.

"He said he would leave it up to me if I wanted to tell you or not."

"Yes, but it's Rick." Her eyes sparkle teasingly up at him. "He's about as good at keeping a secret as you are."

"Yeah, yeah, okay," he grumbles, catching her hand as she tries to tickle him. "I'm glad you're not angry."

"Of course not. Although," she adds with a stern look, already moving to climb over him, "that doesn't mean you're going to get out of fulfilling your duties as a married man."

With a grin that risks breaching the confines of the average human face, Zack slides his hands over her hips and pulls her closer.

"Yes, ma'am."

Which, incidentally, is the last coherent phrase to be uttered in the little room for many an hour.

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End Notes: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, that's that. Written as a request. Both for Zack/Lillia fluff, and Zack/Lillia honeymoon fluff, whoo-ha! XD

Anyway, given my complete and utter hatred of both the characters in the pairing, I don't know how it turned out. I don't know; Zack's little smirk-sneer thing just irritates the hell out of me, and Lillia...well, I've just begun to see her as lazy, selfish, melodramatic, and kind of...using her illness as it's most convenient at the moment. But that's just me. I can't stand when people try to pass off their own opinions on the characters as OMG CANON AND ALL MUST BOW (hint-hint, Elli-bashers and Rick-bashers), so I accept this as my uniquely bizarro view on Lillia.

And, I thought it might be a good idea to post this in the interest of upping the number of stories I have that aren't completely Elli-centric. sob I can't help it! I wuvs her...


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